Playing With Fire (CLOSED)

[CarsonLeigh]

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Forty-One.

Forty-one and divorced.

What a combination.

Of course she could cry about it but what good would it do?

Carson Leigh was a rational woman.

A down-to-earth woman. She knew better than to cry over spilled milk. No, she had to go on with her life. Sure, perhaps it felt as though it was too late to start over, but other people had done it, surely she could also?

Yeah. Why not?

Others would say at least she got the penthouse in the divorce. The truth was, he--Jonathan--didn't want the place. No. He wanted to buy a new place in the California with his new, twenty-five year old, fiancé. The one he had slept with behind Carson's back. He had told her of his new girlfriend one night after he came home drunk from his week long business trip. He said he had fallen in love with someone else. Someone who made him feel young again.

As if that wasn't enough of a slap in the face for Carson. She had thought they were pretty happy. They had a good life. Jonathan was a CEO for a security company and Carson worked from home as a successful cookbook author. Together, their life was great.

At least she thought it was. What a fool she was, at least in the end.

For months after the divorce, she wondered what she could have done better with Jonathan. Was this her fault? He sure made it seem like it was.

When the divorce was finalized, Carson stayed home and dove into her writing. She had spent hours at her computer and, of course, in the kitchen, coming up with more ideas for her new book.

There were times when she wasn't completely lost in her work. She often did volunteer work outside the home. In fact, that's what had her in her current predicament.

She had been exchanging emails with a man, younger than her, over the past couple of months. He was in the military and overseas.

Yeah, he was younger--by 10 years to be exact.

Nothing ever really personal came up from their emails. Just the occasional teasing of if they ever met, she'd cook for him. She had been very vague about who she was exactly and of course, she had been truthful about her age and she had sent him her picture. Besides, if he did know who she really was, she didn't want him treating her like a celebrity. She just wanted to be a normal person.

It was late. She needed to get to bed. After hitting send on their latest email conversation, she shut her computer down and headed off to bed.

She didn't know that when he had received the email, he would be state side and had wanted to meet her. . .

 

[BeachBum25]

Michael Montgomery was a 31 year old graduate of West Point.

He was serving his third tour of duty overseas, and had risen to the rank of Captain.

As part of a program from a group stateside, some of the military members serving overseas had email pals. He had signed up to be included in it; figuring that any contact with home would be great. He thought maybe he could get sports scores and keep up with what was going on in the world outside of his deployment.

He was surprised to receive a female penpal. Not that he was disappointed; nothing could be farther from the truth. He just didn't expect it. He enjoyed the email exchanges with Carson. he was able to get news from home, and he was able to flirt a little with her. They had shared pictures, and he was amazed at how beautiful she was.

As his deployment was coming to an end, he had chosen not to tell Carson. He was afraid that she would move on to someone still overseas, and he wanted to continue the email conversations. In fact, he hoped there might be a face-to-face meeting... something that they had even mentioned in passing. Carson had talked about making dinner for him, and he loved the idea.

Michael read her latest email. It was late. Matthew knew this because he was now in the same time zone. He was sure she had written it right before bed. he responded to her email, and finished it with "I hope to be able to have you cook dinner for me some day soon."

 

[CarsonLeigh]

Carson woke up the next morning to her alarm. With a groan, she reached over and shut it off. She took a few minutes and looked over her calendar for the day. She had a meeting early this morning with her agent and then after that, some promo photo shoots for her new book.

Even though it didn't seem like a lot, it was going to be a hectic one--she probably wouldn't make it back home until after 9 tonight.

After she showered and dressed in a blue cotton dress and jean jacket, she threw her hair up in a messy ponytail. In the kitchen, she made some coffee and smiled as she read over her latest email from Michael.

"I hope to be able to have you cook dinner for me some day soon."

That would be wonderful, I'd really like that--and I'd make your favorite dish, of course!

Carson knew what his favorite dish was--chicken parmesan--it was part of the 'getting to know you' beginnings when they first started writing to each other.

She had apologized for making her reply so short but she quickly explained her day and without thinking, had told him where she was going, at least the name of the building where she was going to meet somone from work. It was in parts, truth. They would talk more later, naturally.

***
As she drove to her meeting, Carson wondered if she was leading him on. Of course they probably weren't going to meet but she was truthful about making him dinner. In her mind, she fantazised about the chance if they ever were to meet. He'd probably think she was a total bore...just like her ex had said--with no life or passion.

That thought brought her back to reality. Yeah, it was a nice thought but it would never happen.

Right?

 

[BeachBum25]

Michael woke up early the next morning and went out for a run. he was determined to keep himself in shape. He had no idea about when/ if he would be deployed again. In fact, he was contemplating selling his skills to the private sector once his enlistment was up. He hadn't decided that yet. There was still the possibility that the military would be his career.

Once he was back from his run, he went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He headed to his room and undressed and then got into the shower. After enjoying a long, hot shower (something that never happened when deployed) he stepped out, toweled off, and then wrapped the towel around his waist.

Michael took the bottle of water and walked out to the living room. He sat on the sofa in his towel and fired up his computer. When it was up and running, he checked his email and smiled that there was a response from Carson. He opened it and read. She gave him details of her day.... including where she had a meeting. That meeting was not far from where he was currently sitting.

"it sounds like you have a pretty busy day. I probably won't hear from you until tomorrow. Just know that I had a dream last night about you making chicken parm for me. It was a great dream. We had a wonderful night."

Michael decided to get dressed and go to the building where Carson was having her meeting. He doubted she would recognize him in person; especially when it was not in the context of their emails. When he arrived at the building, he found a seat in the lobby that faced the entrance and watched as people came and went. Then he saw her. She was more beautiful in person than she was in her picture.. and that was beautiful.

 

[CarsonLeigh]

Man, she needed a personal assistant, that was for sure.

It probably didn't look like it but Carson was running late. She had a messenger bag with her stuff, which was slung over her right shoulder and she was looking at some last minute notes on her phone as she walked into the building's main lobby. She had been here to many times she could probably walk around blindfolded and knew exactly where to go.

It was a short meeting---a whole 40 minutes. It might have seemed short but they had gotten a lot done. It also seemed that since her divorce, William had tried to hit on her more and more. Each time she rebuffed his advances, politely of course. No, she wasn't interested in him--flattered, yes--interested, no.

After the meeting, she made her way back down to the lobby of the building and just as she stepped out of the elevator, her phone rang.

The photoshoot for later today had been rescheduled for the next day due to technical difficulties on the photographers part. All in all, it was good. She needed to get home and finish up a couple of things anyway.

As she made her way to her car, she was stopped by a woman who looked star struck. The woman nearly screamed and grabbed Carson before giving her a hug before crying out, "Oh my God! It's you! Chef Carson Leigh!"

Carson just smiled and tried to be as happy as the woman, whom she pried herself away from her death grip. This wasn't something new and all in all, Carson could only smile and thank the woman who seemed to go on and on about her food and her books--asking if she was going to be getting a show soon.. It took another 15 minutes before she found herself being able to pull away from the woman who had to have a picture with her and of course, her autograph. Well, it was never that crazy all the time, thank goodness.

At her car, she threw her bag into the back of her car and for some reason, still felt as though she was being watched. . .

 

[BeachBum25]

Michael watched her walk in, and ride up on the elevator. His initial intention had been to get a glance of her and to head back home. He changed his mind after seeing her in person. He walked over to the newsstand and bought the local paper, and looked through it; focusing mainly on the sports section.

In what seemed like hours, but was probably about 45 minutes, he saw her get off the elevator. He followed her with his eyes as she walked out of the building. Once she was outside, he got up and followed her out. When he walked out the door, he saw her being attacked by a woman. He heard the woman scream something about a chef.

Michael smiled. "Oh, okay. I get it now. She was talking about making my favorite meal, because she is a chef.," he thought to himself. Suddenly, the flirtations didn't quite feel the same to him. She had just been talking about doing what she did for a living.

He took out his phone and snapped a picture of Carson with the woman as they were having their picture taken. He stood there and watched as the woman left and Carson started to get into her car. He saw her pause, and he thought maybe she had spotted him. He moved slowly, without making a sudden movement in order not to be seen.

Michael stopped at the store on the way home and picked up some groceries. After getting home and putting the groceries away, he opened up his computer. He checked his email and there was nothing from Carson. He really didn't expect there to be, considering she had been in her meeting this morning. He then checked the computer for his schedule and saw that he had to be at a meeting on the base at 1600 hours.

After putting on his uniform, Michael headed to the base. He was going to be early, but he thought he would check in with some of the men and see how things were going.

 

[CarsonLeigh]

Sitting down to a dinner by herself, as per usual, Carson went through her email on her phone and answered Michael’s email, telling him about her day in brief. She didn’t want to say too much as she didn’t want to bore him with her dull life.

Her phone beeped, notifying her of a message.

Looking at the number, she groaned. It was from David. Her ex-husband. Carson ignored him. He was probably wanting to gloat about his new life with his new girlfriend. Idiot.

Getting back to her message to Michael, Carson let him know a little more about her. She hadn’t realized she was starting to tell him about herself more and more each time she ‘talked’ with him. Ending the email, she told him that she hoped to meet him some day and she promised, she wasn’t lying when she talked about making him his favorite dinner.

 

[BeachBum25]

After his meeting, which was really a waste of time, Michael headed home. It almost felt funny to think about heading home. He always felt that way after a deployment. When he got home he looked in the refrigerator and tried to decide what to have for dinner.

he took out some leftovers from the night before, because he did not feel like cooking. He popped it in the microwave and sat down at the kitchen table while his dinner was heated up. While he waited, he opened his computer and fired it up.

While his computer started, Michael got up and got his dinner. he grabbed a fork and went back to the kitchen table. Once there he opened up his email to see if there was a message from Carson. he smiled when he saw that she had responded.

Michael was surprised to read that Carson wrote that she hoped to meet him someday. He wondered if she really meant it She also wrote about wanting to prepare his favorite meal for him. Having seen her earlier today, and having heard her admirer call her Chef, he knew why she kept mentioning cooking for him.

He said to her that she must know that a way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Then, he asked if she truly wanted to meet him, because he was certain that he would enjoy meeting her. He told her that he had a feeling that she was a great cook, and a beautiful woman, and the pleasure would be all his if they ever had the opportunity to meet. He finished with, "maybe when I get back to the states, I will take you up on your offer."